Alex happens. But, we can all do

Alex BureauMrs. McDonnellHumanities22 January, 2018The Environmental Impact From Humans Over the course of this term, I have learned a lot. From learning about plastic in the ocean, to how out entire clothing industry affects the world, it has had an immense impact on me and how I view the world. I now find myself looking, watching, and wondering how everything affects the planet, and what I can do to change it. After watching the film Plastic Ocean, I was shocked. When you recycle something, you have the expectation that it will actually be put to good use, and not put on a ship and transported halfway across the world to get dumped in someone else’s backyard. The fact that islands in the Pacific are being trashed due to our garbage is horrifying, and it doesn’t look like it will end soon. And that’s just one of our problems. For another, you could turn to the movie Racing Extinction. Mass pollution, farming, and killing of wild animals will wipe out countless species before we even know it. This will have an impact far greater than we’ll ever be able to comprehend until it actually happens. But, we can all do our part to help. For example, photographer Joel Sartore teamed up with the Audubon Society to save the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow. After putting a photo of one on the cover of the Audubon’s magazine, funding for the sparrow was increased and now it’s thriving. All of these little things help save species from being wiped out forever. The last thing that really made an impact on me this term was how our clothes are made. The fashion industry has been pushing out new clothes on a weekly basis for years, and it takes a massive toll on not only the environment, but the people who make the clothes too. Horrible working conditions, unfair hours, and low wages all add up to create a terrible work environment, not to mention the health impact too. Workers are also forced to leave their kids outside of the city with family members while they go into the city to work. Unfortunately, most of the time there is no other option than this.None of the trashing of our planet will actually stop until it affects us directly. What if instead of having your plastic dumped in the ocean, it was dumped in your front lawn? Or, what if the sludge that was produced from your clothes went directly into your water supply? My guess is that we would all try our hardest to lower our waste consumption and make sure that we took care of our planet. No scientific miracle is going to save our planet, and we certainly can’t do it if everyone doesn’t buy in. It will take a global movement, with everyday people all the way up to our government, to chip in and do what they can.